1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile broadcasting system supporting a Broadcast Service (BCAST). More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing another Service Guide (SG) through a basic SG in a mobile broadcasting system.
2. Description of the Related Art
The mobile communication market faces ever-increasing demands for new services through the recombination or convergence of existing technologies. The development of communications and broadcasting technologies has reached the point that a broadcasting service can be provided through a portable terminal (hereinafter, a mobile terminal) such as a portable phone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), etc. With all of these potential and actual market demands, including the rapidly increasing user demands for multimedia service, the strategies of service providers that intend to provide new services including a broadcasting service beyond the conventional voice service, and the interests of Internet Technology (IT) companies that reinforce mobile communication businesses by meeting customer demands, the convergence between mobile communications and Internet Protocol (IP) has been a significant trend in the technological development of future-generation mobile communication systems. The resulting grand convergence, that is, the introduction of various wireless or broadcasting services to the wired communication market as well as the mobile communication market has formed the same consumer environment for various services irrespective of wired or wireless broadcasting.
The Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) is an organization that works on standardization of inter-operability between individual mobile solutions. The OMA mainly serves to establish a variety of application standards for mobile communication gaming, Internet service, etc. The OMA BCAST working group is studying a technological standard for providing a broadcasting service through a mobile terminal. That is, the OMA BCAST working group is underway to standardize techniques for providing IP-based broadcasting services in a mobile terminal environment, including providing of a Service Guide (SG), download and streaming transmission, service and content protection, service subscription roaming, etc.
Along with the market trend toward provisioning of integrated services based on wired-wireless convergence, mobile broadcasting technologies including OMA BCAST will also advance to provide services in a wired-wireless integrated environment beyond the mobile environment.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional structure for transmitting an SG to a mobile terminal in a mobile broadcasting system.
Referring to FIG. 1, interfaces between components (logical entities) illustrated in FIG. 1 will first be described in Table 1 and Table 2.
TABLE 1InterfaceDescriptionSG1Server-to-server communications for delivering content attributes such asdescription information, location information, target terminalcapabilities, target user profile, etc. either in the form of BCAST SGfragments or in a proprietary format.SG2Server-to-server communications for delivering BCAST serviceattributes such as service/content description information, schedulinginformation, location information, target terminal capabilities, targetuser profile, etc. in the form of BCAST SG fragments.SG-B1Server-to-server communications for either delivering BroadcastDistribution System (BDS) specific from BDS to BCAST SGAdaptation function, to assist SG adaptation to specific BDS, or to deliverBCAST SG attributes to BDS for BDS specific adaptation and distribution.SG4Server-to-server communications for delivering provisioninginformation, purchase information, subscription information,promotional information, etc., in the form of BCAST SG fragments.SG5Delivery of BCAST SG through Broadcast Channel, over IP.SG6Delivery of BCAST SG through Interaction Channel, interactiveaccess to retrieve SG or additional information related to SG, forexample, by HTTP, SMS or MMS.
TABLE 2InterfaceDescriptionx-1 124Reference Point between BDS Service Distribution andBDS 122x-2 125Reference Point between BDS Service Distribution andInteraction Network 123x-3 126Reference Point between BDS 122 and Terminal 119x-4 127Reference Point between BDS Service Distribution 121 andTerminal 119 over Broadcast Channelx-5 128Reference Point between BDS Service Distribution andTerminal over Interaction Channel (Air Interface 130)x-6 129Reference Point between Interaction Network 123 andTerminal 119
Referring to FIG. 1, a content creator 101 creates a broadcast service (hereinafter, a BCAST service). The BCAST service can be a conventional audio/video broadcasting service or a conventional music/data file download service. In the content creator 101, an SG Content Creation Source (SGCCS) 102 transmits content description information, terminal capabilities information, user profiles, and content timing information required for configuring an SG for the BCAST service to an SG Application Source (SGAS) 105 of a BCAST service application 104 via an SG1 interface 103 described in Table 1.
The BCAST service application 104 generates BCAST service data by receiving data for the BCAST service from the content creator 101 and processing the data in a form suitable for a BCAST network. The BCAST service application 104 also generates standardized meta data needed for mobile broadcasting guidance. The SGAS 105 transmits information received from the SGCCS 102 and sources required for configuring the SG, including service/content description information, scheduling information and location information, to an SG Generator (SG-G) 109 of a BCAST service distributor/adapter 108 via an SG2 interface 106 also described in Table 1.
The BCAST service distributor/adapter 108 establishes a bearer for delivering the BCAST service data received from the BCAST service application 104, schedules transmission of the BCAST service, and generates mobile broadcasting guide information. The BCAST service distributor/adapter 108 is connected to a Broadcast Distribution System (BDS) 122, that transmits the BCAST service data, and to an interaction network 123 that supports bi-directional communications.
The SG generated in the SG-G 109 is provided to a mobile terminal 119 through an SG Distributor (SG-D) 110 and an SG-5 interface 117. If the SG needs to be provided through the BDS 122 or the interaction network 123, or the SG needs to be adapted to suit a specific system or network, it is provided to the SG-D 110 after adaptation in an SG Adapter (SG-A) 111, or to a later-described BDS service distributor 121 via an SG-B1 interface 116.
A BCAST subscription manager 113 manages subscription information required for BCAST service reception, service provision information, and device information about mobile terminals to receive the BCAST service. An SG Subscription Source (SGSS) 114 of the BCAST subscription manager 113 transmits provisioning information, purchase information, subscription information, and promotional information in relation to SG generation to the SG-G 109 via an SG4 interface 112.
The BDS service distributor 121 distributes all received BCAST services on broadcast channels or on interaction channels. The BDS service distributor 121 is an optional entity that can be used or not depending on the type of the BDS 122. The BDS 122 is a network over which the BCAST service is delivered. For example, the BDS 122 can be a broadcasting network such as Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld (DVB-H), Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS), or 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2) Broadcast Multicast Service (BCMCS). The interaction network 123 transmits the BCAST service in a one-to-one manner or exchanges control information and additional information associated with BCAST service reception bi-directionally. For example, the interaction network 123 can be a legacy cellular network.
In FIG. 1, the mobile terminal 119 is a BCAST reception-enabled terminal. Depending on its performance, the mobile terminal 119 can be connected to a cellular network. The mobile terminal 119, which includes an SG Client (SG-C) 120, receives the SG via an SG5 interface 117 or a notification message via an SG6 interface 118 and appropriately operates to receive the BCAST service.
Table 3, Table 4 and Table 5 summarize the functions of major components (logical entities) illustrated in FIG. 1, defined in the OMA BCAST standards.
TABLE 3Logical entityDescriptionContent creatorIn the content creator, SGCCS may provide content attributes such101as content description information, target terminal capabilities,target user profile, content timing information, etc. and may sendthem over SG1 in the form of standardized BCAST SG fragments or ina proprietary format.BCAST serviceIn the BCAST service application, SGAS 105 providesapplication 104service/content description information, scheduling information,location information, target terminal capabilities, target userprofile, etc., and sends them over SG2 106 in the form ofstandardized BCAST SG fragments.BCASTIn BCAST subscription manager, SGSS 114 provides provisioningsubscriptioninformation, purchase information, subscription information,manager 113promotional information, etc., and sends them over SG4 112 in theform of SG fragments.
TABLE 4Logical entityDescriptionSG-G 109The SG-G in the network is responsible for receiving SGfragments from various sources such as SGCCS 102, SGAS 105,SGSS 114 over SG-2 and SG-4 interfaces. SG-G 109 assemblesthe fragments such as services and content access informationaccording to a standardized schema and generates SG which issent to SG-D for transmission. Before transmission, it is optionallyadapted in the SG-A 111 to suit a specific BDS.SG-C 120The SG-C in the terminal 119 is responsible for receiving the SGinformation from the underlying BDS and making the SGavailable to the mobile terminal. The SG-C obtains specific SGinformation. It may filter it to match the terminal specified criteria (forexample, location, user profile, terminal capabilities), or itmay simply obtain all available SG information. Commonly, theuser may view the SG information in a menu, list or tabularformat. SG-C may send a request to the network through SG-6 118to obtain specific SG information, or the entire SG.
TABLE 5Logical entityDescriptionSG-D 110SG-D generates an IP flow to transmit SG over the SG5 interface118 and the broadcast channel to the SG-C 120. Beforetransmission, the SG-G may send SG to SG-A 111 to adapt the SGto suit specific BDS according to the BDS attributes sent by BDSservice distributor over SG-B1 116. The adaptation might result inmodification of SG. Note that, for adaptation purpose, the SG-Amay also send the BCAST SG attributes or BCAST SG fragmentsover SG-B1 to BDS service distributor for adaptation, thisadaptation within BDS service distributor is out of the scope ofBCAST, SG-D may also receive a request for SG information, andsend the requested SG information to the terminal directly throughthe interaction channel. SG-D also may filter SG information fromSG-G 109 based on End Users pre-specified profile. SG-D mayalso send the SG to the BDS, which modifies the SG (e.g., byadding BSD specific information), and further distributes the SG to theSG-C in a BDS specific manner.
FIG. 2 illustrates a conventional OMA BCAST SG data model for generating an SG. In FIG. 2, a solid line connecting fragments indicates cross-reference between the fragments.
Referring to FIG. 2, the SG data model includes an Administrative Group 200 for providing upper configuration information about the entire SG, a Provisioning Group 210 for providing subscription information and purchase information, a Core Group 220 for providing core information about the SG, such as services/contents and schedules, and an Access Group 230 for providing access information by which to access the services/contents.
The Administrative Group 200 includes an SG Delivery Descriptor (SGDD) 201 and the Provisioning Group 210 includes a Purchase Item 211, a Purchase Data 212, and a Purchase Channel 213.
The Core Group 220 includes a Service 221, a Schedule 222, and a Content 223. The Access Group 230 is configured to include an Access 231 and a Session Description 232.
In addition to the four groups 200, 210, 220 and 230, the SG information may further include a Preview Data 241 and an Interactivity Data 251. The above-described components of the SG are called fragments, with minimum units constituting the SG.
As to the fragments, the SGDD fragment 201 provides information on a delivery session carrying an SG Delivery Unit (SGDU) with fragments, provides grouping information about the SGDU, and an entry point for receiving a notification message.
The Service fragment 221 is an upper aggregate of content included in a broadcast service, as a core of the entire SG, and provides service content, genres, service location information, etc.
The Schedule fragment 222 provides time information of the content included in the service, such as streaming, downloading, etc.
The Content fragment 223 provides a description, a target user group, a service area, and genres for the broadcast content.
The Access fragment 231 provides access information to allow the user to access the service, and also provides information about the delivery scheme of an access session and session information about the access session.
The Session Description fragment 232 can be included in the Access fragment 231. Alternatively, information about the location of the Session Description fragment 232 is given in the form of a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), so that the terminal can detect the Session Description fragment 232. In addition, the Session Description fragment 232 provides address information and codec information about multimedia content included in a session.
The Purchase Item fragment 211 groups one or more multiple services or scheduled items together, so that the user can purchase a service or a service bundle or subscribe to it.
The Purchase Data fragment 212 includes purchase and subscription information about services or service bundles, such as price information and promotion information.
The Purchase Channel fragment 213 provides access information for subscription to or purchase of a service or a service bundle.
The SGDD fragment 201 indicates an entry point for receiving the serice guide and provides grouping information about an SGDU being a container of fragments.
The Preview Data fragment 241 provides preview information about services, schedules and contents, and the Interactivity Data fragment 251 provides an interactive service during broadcasting according to services, schedules, and contents. Detailed information on the SG can be defined by various elements and attributes for providing contents and values based on the upper data model of FIG. 2.
For convenience, although the elements and attributes for each of the fragments of the SG are not included herein, the elements and attributes do not limit the present invention, and the present invention is applicable to all necessary elements and attributes defined to provide an SG for a mobile broadcasting service.
In the course of generating a service guide in the SG-G 109 based on the SG data model and providing the fragments of the SG through the SG-D 110 and the SG-C 120 being a user terminal, the more services and contents that service providers provide, the more information is transmitted. The resulting exponential increase of the fragments of the SG in size and number may cause a significant increase in the overhead of receiving the fragments, in the time for assembling the SG and in the time and resources for displaying it in the terminal.